


The Key Master

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Malcolm is overly excited for this particular case and not even his daemon can keep him focused
Comments: 15
Kudos: 37
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	The Key Master

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cozy_coffee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cozy_coffee/gifts), [vanillafluffy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillafluffy/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it 
> 
> **Notes:** written for cozy_coffee in comment_fic for the prompt of Any non fantasy, any, Daemon Au. I asked vanillafluffy if I could set this in her Prodigal Son Daemon AU that she wrote for me and she said yes! You can find her story _Dogs and Cats, Living Together_ [ here.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23308381)

XXX

Malcolm was well aware everyone was watching him, or maybe they were captivated by Jin, Edrisa’s Rhesus monkey daemon, petting his Lorelei, the little grey kitten who squirmed a bit. He knew Jin was likely trying to curb Lorelei’s impulse control issues so she didn’t go pouncing into their crime scene. He couldn’t know that Malcolm’s daemon was well used to being at the scene of something horrific. She only looked young, her growth a bit stunted like his own. Of course, Malcolm had his own impulse control issues.

“What in the hell is she wearing?” JT asked, maneuvering around a small shrub in the hotel’s ballroom area so he could get a better look at the crime scene. Javert, his big brindle Great Dane daemon lopped along after him, his ears perking up when he saw Lorelei. Much to JT’s chagrin, Javert and Lorelei had hit it off immediately as the fearless kitten had played with him all day in the precinct after their first case.

Malcolm stared down at their victim. Her top hat with goggles riding their brim rested just a few feet from her head. A bracelet with a matching necklace and a matching belt made Malcolm pause and study all the keys that dangled from each as if she were a key master of the airship. Her ankle-length raven-hued skirt had rucked up over her knees but the really eye-catching thing was her black and white skulled corset, ribbed with ‘whaleboning’ and pulled tight against her body. Right through the eye of one skull was a hole with a ring of gunpowder. Under her a pool of blood had formed. Her daemon, a large magpie, lay crumpled next to the large key dangling from her hip and in a way, Malcolm was glad her daemon hadn’t suffered long after her death. They often went made with grief and became dangerous. Edrisa started to answer but Malcolm beat her to it. “It’s steampunk.” 

Edrisa bobbed her head and pointed down the hall. “It’s a steampunk convention. This is Darkling, she’s a goth-steampunk singer, part of the festivities.”

“Aw, that’s why she looks so familiar. I liked her work,” Malcolm said, and Lorelei slithered free of Jin, trotting over to him as she sensed his distress. She climbed Malcolm like a tree and settled on his shoulder.

“Of course, he knows what this is,” JT said to Dani. Dixon, her blue rex rat daemon leaned against her ankle, managing to look both jaunty and disinterested but Malcolm knew better. The rat, much like Dani, missed nothing. 

Dani smirked. “What’s steampunk, Bright?”

“It’s a movement in literature, music and dress where you have the eighteen hundreds sense of style but with more futuristic tech.”

“Why do you know about it?” JT brushed his fingers over Javert’s head. 

Malcolm caught Gil’s eyeroll, knowing his ersatz father would probably have been happier if he had been less ‘weird’ but he never interfered with anything Malcolm had wanted to do. “I had to go undercover to catch a rapist who was crossing state lines, from one con to another. He liked to slip young men roofies and well you get the idea, so they set me up as bait. Turned out he was a vendor.” And he was thankful they had found the man _before_ he had been slipped the drug because he had bad luck when it came to getting hurt on the job.

“Let’s go talk to them,” Gil said and Golly, his bloodhound, trotted ahead of them. Gil followed along with the rest of the team, sans Edrisa and Jin who were busy with processing the young woman’s body and the surrounding scene.

When they went around the corner, it was like slipping backward in time to an era that never actually existed but where imagination and creativity reigned. Malcolm had quite enjoyed the steampunk assignment. He would have gone to conventions on his own but it seemed lonely without knowing anyone at all. He paused to pick up a con program, flipping it open. Lorelei stretched out a paw to bat at the pages. Malcolm wanted to take the lead but confronted with a sea of people in outlandish garb he knew he needed to pause for the inevitable running commentary from JT and potentially Dani and Gil.

JT thumped a hand down on his shoulder opposite the one Lorelei rode. “I have to know. Did you dress up for that assignment?”

“Of course, I was undercover!”

JT snickered and Javert shook himself as if amused too. The dog sneezed and managed to look like he was grinning. “Of course, you were.”

“I looked good,” Malcolm mumbled. He had. He’d kept the outfit way back in the depths of his generous closet space. 

“Actually, I believe you.” Dani smiled at him as her rat skittered into the crowd. “You know how to carry off a suit.” She gestured to the multitude of frock coats and other suits being sported by the con goers. 

He blushed a little, ducking his head. Lorelei swatted a page of his program. He studied it. “Ah, look, a lecture on antique sex toys.”

“I have no words,” JT said, holding up a hand. “I can’t even.”

“I wonder if they’ll reschedule it. It could be interesting!” Malcolm argued.

“Kid, keep on task please,” Gil said, rolling his eyes at him this time. Golly peeled away from Gil and sat in front of Malcolm who knew what that meant. He’d better pay attention but to his mind, he was. He needed to get a good picture of who was here and what was happening. He could do that if he knew what was on offer and who might want to kill the musician. Lorelei jumped off his shoulder and almost landed on Golly’s head. She looked ready to swat at his dewlaps, always ready to defend Malcolm but then her head jerked up and Malcolm imagined her smiling as she saw the feathers on a woman’s hat.

Malcolm scooped her up. “ I am, Gil. That doesn’t change the fact, a lecture on violet ray wands could be fun. Too bad we couldn’t do a little undercover work here tonight. Dani, you might enjoy it.”

“I’m not going to a sex toy lecture with you.” She laughed. “Take Edrisa. She’d probably have a blast.”

Malcolm cocked his head, depositing Lorelei in his pocket.

“Oh God, he’s considering it. We’ll find him tied up in the morgue somewhere.” JT snorted, slapping Malcolm on the back.

Gil face palmed. “All right, let’s start these interviews before this deteriorates any further. Give me that brochure, Bright.”

Malcolm didn’t surrender it. “I’m on task.”

Gil sighed. “Then shall we? Who knows, you , Powell and JT might get to come back later to do more investigating.”

“I’m not dressing up,” JT said quickly.

“There, you can take JT to the sex toy thing, Bright.” Dani nudged Malcolm and Lorelei popped out of his pocket and patted Dani’s arm.

“Violet ray wands give off shocks. You might like to see what happens to him if they let us play with them.” Malcolm grinned and Dani turned to JT with a wide smile.

“Don’t make me tell Tally that you two are sitting around imagining me getting shocked,” JT argued.

Gil took away Malcolm’s program and Golly nudged him with his big broad head. “Focus and not on _that_!”

“And just how do you even _know_ what some Victorian sex toy does?” Dani asked, herding Malcolm into the mass of steampunkers who were being corralled by the uniformed officers.

“I have a lot of interests.” Malcolm shrugged. “Tesla invented it but the Violet ray wands aren’t exactly the same as his and are technically from the early nineteen hundreds. Though there is a modern day Tesla violet ray wand out there.”

“He knows too much about this! We don’t ask him things like that, Dani,” JT said sharply, his eye so wide it nearly made Malcolm laugh.

“You don’t. I do.” Dani beamed. “You never know what might come in handy.”

Malcolm’s heart jittered at that and his mind ran away with him into the danger zone. Lorelei rubbed against his wrist, focusing him. “With that in mind, we should talk to the other band members.”

“You and Powell do that. JT and I will take the convention organizers,” Gil said. “And Dani…” He pointed to where her rat was racing along with a lace glove in his mouth.

She sighed and went to rescue it. Hoping that Dixon had found some evidence, Malcolm went with her, eager to see where this case took him. Hopefully he’d get to see Dani in a corset. He could just imagine the ribbed, colorful garment encasing her slender body. Even if he didn’t get to see it for real, he hoped he’d dream it tonight. It would be better than anything his mind usually offered him. Smiling, he scratched Lorelei’s head and dove into his work. This was going to be an exciting case in so many ways.


End file.
